Activities of Anne-Sophie PELLETIER related to 2020/2035(INL)
Plenary speeches (1)
Combating gender-based violence: cyberviolence (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT with recommendations to the Commission on combating gender-based violence: cyberviolence
Amendments (24)
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A (new)
Recital -A (new)
-A. whereas violence against women is a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women and should mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life, and also perpetrated online; whereas gender- based cyberviolence is an extension of patriarchal gender and sexual violence against women developed through the advancement in digital technology;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A a (new)
Recital -A a (new)
-A a. whereas gender-based cyberviolence limits women’s right to express themselves equally, freely and without fear, and women are often silenced through violence and abuse online; whereas in many instances the impact on victims that experienced online abuse or harassment is major such as lower self-esteem or loss of self- confidence as a result to stress, anxiety or panic attacks after experiencing online abuse or harassment; whereas cyberviolence affects women disproportionately not only causing them psychological harm and suffering but also deterring them from digital participation in political, social and cultural life;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas cyberviolence can manifest as various forms of violence, including sexual, psychological and, as growing trends would indicate, economic, whereby the victim’s current or future employment status is compromised by information released online; whereas the potential for violence in the cyber-sphere to manifest psychically should also not be discounted; whereas cyber harassment, cyber stalking, cyber bullying, trolling, online hate speech, flaming, doxxing and image- based sexual abuse, including non- consensual sharing of intimate images or videos, are among the most common types of gender-based cyberviolence; whereas some Member States have adopted specific legislation on some of those particular forms only;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas the collection of scientific, tangible and representative data is fundamental and primordial to raise awareness on gender-based cyberviolence and to prevent it;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
E b. whereas a particularly-distressing aspect of gender-based cyberviolence is that victims have no information on available remedies, may be warned viciously not to contact law enforcement or may not know whom to contact;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
H a. whereas mental health implications of gender- based cyberviolence have detrimental interpersonal, social, legal, economic, and political implications on young women and ultimately affect youth’s livelihood and identity;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
H b. whereas given the potential of being shamed and violated by both known and unknown perpetrators, the mental health impact of gender-based cyberviolence can be complex and long term; whereas the impact of shaming is multilayered and pervasive across different dimensions of one’s personal and social life and often leads to self and public blaming and stigmatising by known and unknown audiences; whereas gender- based cyberviolence leads young women to isolate themselves from social arena and withdraw from friends and families, social networks, employment, and education system as well as other daily life activities; whereas many young women continue to live with mental health challenges of gender-based cyberviolence such as anxiety, depression, and ongoing symptoms of post-trauma pushing them to isolate socially, self-inflicted injuries or suicide attempt as the only option to cope with, or end their trauma;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines that gender-based cyberviolence is a continuum of gender- based violence offline and that no policy alternative will be effective unless it takes this reality into consideration; calls on the Member States and the EU to formulate policy responses, strategies, programmes and action plans in recognition of the fact that gender-based cyberviolence is a form of gender-based violence and to include the voices of victimes of the phenomenon, particularly women, in the strategies for addressing it;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Believes that the EU should aim towards agreeing on definitions of forms of gender-based cyberviolence and incorporate these forms of violence into EU legislation, to ensure that victims of gender-based cyberviolence in Member States have effective access to justice and specialised support services;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Calls on the EU and the Member States to undertake initiatives aiming to eradicate gender stereotypes, sexist attitudes and discrimination against women that play out online as much as offline;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1 c. Calls on the Member States to allocate appropriate human and financial resources to national, regional and local governance bodies, as well as to legal aid, health-care, in particular mental health, and social protection institutions, including women´s organisations, to effectively prevent and protect from gender-based cyberviolence;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of domestic violence and abuse because victims are forced to spend more time with perpetrators and they tend to be more isolated from support networks; calls on Member States to increase the assistance they offer through shelters, helplines and support services to protect victims and facilitate the reporting of gender-based violence; highlights that the COVID 19 confinement measures have also increased people´s vulnerability and have exposed them to gender-based cyberviolence by the increasing use of social networks to overcome social isolation;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Member States to promote awareness raising, to implement national criminal justice laws and specific policies and programmes to prevent gender-based cyberviolence and to fight against impunity for those who commit such acts; underlines the importance of using media and social media to raise citizens’awareness in order to prevent and combat gender-based cyberviolence;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Urges the Commission and the Member States to establish a reliable system for regularly collecting statistical disaggregated, representative and comparable data on gender-based violence, including cyberviolence;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Reaffirms that progress in gender- based cyberviolence is conditional on the collection of tangible scientific data; acknowledges that public health decisions cannot be made without public data;
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Calls on the Member States to develop and disseminate accessible information on the legal avenues and support services available to victims of gender-based cyberviolence and create complaints mechanisms within law enforcement and prosecution services that are easily and immediately accessible to victims, including by digital means; calls on the Member States to make support services, incluidng legal and psychological counselling, accesssible to all victims;
Amendment 311 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12 b. Points out the main role of educational staff, who need to be permanently present and in direct contact with adolescents and their parents; stresses the importance to invest in qualified training professionals to support students in issues related to gender-based cyberviolence;
Amendment 319 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recalls that the Council is to urgently conclude the Union’s ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the ‘Istanbul Convention’) on the basis of a broad accession without any limitations, and to advocate for its ratification, swift and proper implementation, and enforcement by all Member States; underlines that the Istanbul Convention is the most comprehensive international treaty addressing the root causes of gender- based violence in all its forms and that the Member States and the EU lose credibility on combating any form of gender-based violence by failing to conclude its ratification; highlights that this call does not detract from the call to adopt a Union legal act on combating gender-based violence but, rather, complements it;
Amendment 344 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Requests that the Commission submit, without undue delay, on the basis of Article 83(1), first subparagraph, TFEU, a proposal for an act establishing measures to combat gender-based cyberviolence following, the recommendations set out in the Annex hereto; indicates that that proposal should not undermine the efforts to identify gender-based violence as a new area of particularly serious crime with a cross-border dimension pursuant to Article 83(1), third subparagraph, TFEU or any derivative legal acts on gender-based violence as requested by Parliament in its previous calls; believes however that gender-based cyberviolence would be more efficiently addressed through a comprehensive directive to prevent and combat all forms of gender-based violence;
Amendment 366 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Recommendation 2 – paragraph 4 – indent 7
Annex I – Recommendation 2 – paragraph 4 – indent 7
- self-inflicted violence, such as suicide or anorexia induction and psychic injury conducts;
Amendment 378 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Recommendation 3 – paragraph 1 – indent 3
Annex I – Recommendation 3 – paragraph 1 – indent 3
- digital education, literacy and skills, including in the school curricula, in order to promote an enhanced understanding of digital technologies and, to avoid social media misuse, particularly in the case of underage users accessing platforms that do not require age verification in the interest of protecting vulnerable groups, and to promote the empowerment of users, to improve digital inclusion, to ensure the respect for fundamental rights, to eliminate any gender inequality in access to technologies and to ensure gender diversity in the technology sector, particularly in the development of new technologies;
Amendment 408 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Recommendation 4 – paragraph 1 – indent 3 a (new)
Annex I – Recommendation 4 – paragraph 1 – indent 3 a (new)
- to ensure that victims of gender- based cyberviolence in Member States have effective access to justice and specialised support services;
Amendment 434 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Recommendation 6 – paragraph 1
Annex I – Recommendation 6 – paragraph 1
The Commission and Member States should collect and publish disaggregated and comparable data on gender-based cyberviolence, in particular on the different forms of gender-based cyberviolence, not only based on law enforcement reports but also on women’s experiences. The Commission should also improve gender- disaggregated data at EU level on the prevalence and harms of gender-based cyberviolence.
Amendment 438 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Recommendation 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Annex I – Recommendation 6 – paragraph 1 a (new)
The Commission and the Member States should develop indicators to measure the effectiveness of their interventions to address gender-based cyberviolence.